Determination of nicotine in wild edible fungi by QuEChERS-ultra performance liquid chromatography-triple quadrupole mass spectrometry

Abstract

Yunnan Province has many wild edible fungi resources, and of these, endogenous nicotine has received extensive attention in recent years. In this study, wild edible fungus was used as the research object, and the QuEChERS method was improved, including optimization of solvent extraction and purification conditions and optimization of the chromatographic behavior of nicotine under different mobile phase conditions for ultra performance liquid chromatography (UPLC). Combined with triple quadrupole mass spectrometry, a high-efficiency, rapid, and sensitive method for the determination of nicotine in wild edible fungi was established. The results showed that an ammonia:acetonitrile (6:94, v/v) mixed solution can completely extract nicotine from wild edible fungi, and the extraction solution was purified by graphitized carbon black (GCB) and N-propylethylenediamine (PSA) mixed filler. Then, a 0.1% (volume percentage) ammonia solution and acetonitrile were used as the mobile phases. The nicotine peak obtained in the positive ion multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode had a better peak shape and better response. The linear relationship of nicotine mass concentration with peak area in the range of 0.05-50.0 μg/L was good. The correlation coefficient (r2) was 0.9999. The limit of quantification was 0.2 μg/kg, and the limit of detection was 0.05 μg/kg. The average recovery rates at three spiked concentrations were in the range of 86.34%-96.4%, and the relative standard deviations varied from 4.44% to 6.3%. The sensitivity and recovery of this method are consistent with the rapid determination of nicotine in the edible fungus industry.